From The South Mountain YMCA:
The South Mountain YMCA launched the Future Makers Entrepreneur Program, a pilot initiative funded through a grant from the State of New Jersey. Designed for middle and high school students, the program ran two cohorts, Fall and Spring, during the 2025–2026 school year.
At its core, the program focused on accessibility and inclusion, making business education approachable for students of all abilities. Across both cohorts, 15 students from South Orange, Maplewood, and neighboring school districts participated, gaining hands-on experience in the fundamentals of starting a business.
Participants were guided by a dedicated team of mentors Leslie Kerner, Rachel Trobman, Jasmin Chay, and Maura Batson, who supported them throughout the program. Each week, students also had the opportunity to learn directly from local business leaders, including Kia Palmer (Palmers Bakehouse), Monica Hafif (Soma Sweets), Ellen Hockley (Ellen Hockley Consulting), Tom Varbero (Gleamr), David Echevarria (New Jersey Pride Football Club), and Bruce Smith, a SCORE mentor. These speakers provided real-world insights that helped bring entrepreneurial concepts to life.
The curriculum covered key topics such as market research, cost analysis, business formation, and business plan development. A highlight of the program was the first-everMakers Market, hosted at AIR Fitness thanks to Maura Batson. This event gave students the opportunity to test their business ideas with the public and receive seed funding to support their ventures.
The program culminated in an exciting Pitch Competition, where participants had the opportunity to present their business ideas to a panel of judges. A sincere thank you to Cat Fisher (Kitchen A’la Mode, The CoLab), Councilwoman Hannah Zollman, Mika Richardson (Senior Creative Strategist), Jennifer McManus (Real Estate Agent), Robert Lockatell (Robotics Teacher), and Monica Hafif (Soma Sweets) for generously sharing their time, expertise, and thoughtful feedback with our future entrepreneurs.
Participants had the chance to showcase their hard work and creativity, and winners received gift cards to reinvest back into their growing businesses.
Congratulations to our first-place winners, Kaya Friedman, whose business Ultimate Lessons took first place in the Fall Cohort, and Devan Bachhawat, whose business Study Pulse earned first place in the Spring Cohort. We are so proud of all of our young entrepreneurs for their innovation, dedication, and courage to bring their ideas to life.
For more information or to express interest, please contact [email protected].
